Marlon Brando

Widely regarded as the greatest actor of his generation, Marlon Brando crafted several of the most iconic characterizations in the history of cinema, a legacy that remained undiminished, despite the h...
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Marlon Brando's ex-wife Movita Castaneda has died at the age of 98. The Mexican-American actress passed away on Thursday (12Feb15) at a rehabilitation centre in Los Angeles, where she was recovering from a neck injury, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Castaneda rose to prominence in 1933's Flying Down to Rio, Fred Astaire's first film with Ginger Rogers, and went on to land roles as sexy, exotic characters opposite Clark Gable in Mutiny on the Bounty, John Carroll in Rose of the Rio Grande and Wolf Call, and Warren Hull in Girl from Rio.
Castaneda's other film credits included Paradise Isle, Fort Apache and Captain Calamity, and TV series Knots Landing in the late 1980s.
She met Brando in the late 1950s and became his second wife in 1960 - but their romance ended in divorce after the movie icon left the actress for 19-year-old Tarita Teri'ipaia, who ironically played his onscreen lover in a remake of Castaneda's Flying Down to Rio in 1962.
Teri'ipaia became Brando's third wife.
Castaneda, who was previously married to Irish boxer-turned-singer and actor Jack Doyle, is survived by her two children with Brando - Miko and Rebecca.

The Godfather can arguably be deemed as the best movie ever made. So, it's easy for your love to go to a whole other level. Do you just love Michael Corleone (Al Pacino)? Or has your love for him made you kind of feel like you are him? It's time to find out that line between love and obsession!
1. You have learned most of your lessons about family from the triology.
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2. This scene often pops into your head, making you angry.
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3. You have sent fish to someone you had beef with.
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4. You can't help but be superstitious of oranges.
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5. Every time you hear someone is planning a wedding you recommend that they play "Luna Mezz O'Mare" at the reception.
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6. You quote it non-stop.
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7. You turn to the movies for business advice before anything else.
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8. You aspire to become a Godfather one day.
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9. The third Godfather is kind of a hot topic for you.
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10. When you get dressed up you want a red rose to go with your tux.
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11. You can't help but be creeped out by hospitals now.
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12. You say a Hail Mary every time you go fishing.
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Are you obsessed with The Godfather? Tell us how my tweeting us your answers using the Twitter handles below!
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South African writer Andre Brink has died, aged 79. The novelist passed away on Friday (06Feb15) after falling ill on board a flight to Cape Town while returning from Belgium, where he had received an honorary doctorate.
The cause of death had not been confirmed as WENN went to press.
Brink was a successful novelist and an outspoken critic of apartheid. His books were translated into more than 30 languages and one of his most popular releases, A Dry White Season, was turned into a 1989 film starring Donald Sutherland, Susan Sarandon and Marlon Brando.
His other novels included Looking on Darkness and Philida, for which he was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2012.

Tom Selleck learned not to select movie roles on the basis of his potential castmates after signing to star in a disastrous Christopher Columbus movie in the hope of hanging out with Marlon Brando. Selleck insists his role in 1992's Christopher Columbus: The Discovery is his only film regret.
He tells TV Guide magazine he only signed on because Brando was involved.
Selleck says, "When I got on set, instead of seven scenes with Brando, there was only one and he didn't speak.
"I tried to quit, but I was warned I'd be sued. It was a horrible movie... I realised that wanting to act with someone, even Brando, was a bad reason to take a role."

Late Hollywood legend Marlon Brando has narrated a new documentary about his life from beyond the grave. Listen to Me Marlon, which premiered at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival in Utah this week (ends01Feb15), charts Brando's rags-to-riches tale and uses extracts from the actor's audio diary to tell the story in his own words.
The project came about after the tapes were released by the late star's estate.
Director Stevan Riley tells Vulture.com, "(There was) probably about 300 hours of it (the audio tapes). When we finally got it all transcribed, we had a pile of paper about four feet off the ground... I knew this stuff existed, but I didn't know how much.
"Marlon actually kept all this stuff in a bunker outside of his house. He didn't keep any memorabilia at home, but it was all out there. There was also loads of written material to go with the audio and visual material. It's amazing, because he was so private and so rarely did interviews... There were drawers full of tape recorders."
The film will air on U.S. TV later this year (15).
The Godfather star Brando died in 2004 at the age of 80.

"I was trying to make Marlon jealous because I knew that Elvis was interested in me and so I went out with him a few times and I can only say this - he was no hound dog! He was very sweet and shy." Movie veteran Rita Moreno briefly romanced Elvis Presley to make boyfriend Marlon Brando jealous.

Iconic celebrity photographer Phil Stern has died, aged 95. The snapper, responsible for capturing intimate portraits of movie legends such as Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, died on Saturday (13Dec14) in California. He reportedly suffered from emphysema and congestive heart failure, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Stern began his photography career as a teen, when he worked as a police snapper for the New York City Police Department.
At the age of 21, he enlisted in the U.S. Army to become a combat photographer in the Second World War, capturing iconic images at the front lines. Stern was honoured with a Purple Heart for his services.
Later, he moved to Los Angeles and worked for such magazines as Life and Look, honing his ability to capture one-of-a-kind shots of Hollywood's elite, including Monroe, Dean, John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart.
Stern worked as a special still cameraman on films such as Guys and Dolls and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
He also took his camera into music studios while jazz greats like Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie recorded their songs, and contributed images for the album covers of artists including Liza Minnelli and Count Basie.

Andy Warhol's portrait of Elvis Presley sold for $81.9 million (£51.2 million) at an art auction on Wednesday (12Nov14) night. The Triple Elvis (Ferus Type), created with ink and silver paint in 1963, portrays the rock icon as a cowboy.
The picture was on sale alongside Warhol's portrait of Hollywood legend Marlon Brando, which sold for $69.6 million (£4.4 million) at Christie's auction house in New York.
Christie's chief executive officer, Stephen Murphy branded the auction "a moment in art history".

Movie icon Sophia Loren spilled the beans about some of Hollywood's most famous male stars during a tribute evening on Wednesday (12Nov14) as part of the American Film Institute (AFI) film festival. Director Rob Marshall interviewed Loren for an onstage career retrospective at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, running through her Italian acting work, her transition to Hollywood and her later films.
The 80 year old discussed the male co-stars she encountered throughout her career, telling Marshall that Cary Grant was a "special person, a great actor, absolutely incredible as a person" and Peter Sellers was a "very melancholic person. He would light up only when the director said action".
She added that she liked Clark Gable, "But he had a watch and it rang every evening at five. When it rang, he would leave without saying goodbye."
However, Loren also made it clear she was not a fan of Marlon Brando, simply shrugging when his name was brought up. They co-starred in A Countess of Hong Kong and she recalls the Godfather star keeping her and Charlie Chaplin waiting, so Chaplin reprimanded him for it.
Modern Family star Sofia Vergara and Loren's son Edoardo Ponti also took to the stage to praise Loren, and Vergara's boyfriend Joe Manganiello and actress Michelle Monaghan were in the audience.
Following the tribute, festival organisers screened a restored version of the actress' 1964 comedy Marriage Italian Style and short film The Human Voice, which was directed by her son.
The AFI Fest will close on Thursday evening (13Nov14).

Marilyn Monroe's lingerie and a collection of love letters from her admirers are among the personal items set to go under the later this year (14).
A vast collection of the late actress' belongings is heading to auction in December (14) and the lots include clothes, make-up, hair pins and lingerie, as well as notes from her husbands Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller.
In one of the letters from DiMaggio, the baseball legend begs Monroe to take him back after she announced plans to divorce him.
The collection also features notes and gifts from friends and admirers including Marlon Brando.
The items will be put on display at a gallery in Beverly Hills, California prior to the Julien's Auctions sale from 5-6 December (14).

Made last stage appearance in a summer stock tour of "Arms and the Man"

Was subject of the documentary, "Meet Marlon Brando"; filmed by the Maysles brothers

Portrayed a psychiatrist treating a man who thinks he is the great lover in "Don Juan DeMarco"; co-starred Johnny Depp

Played an Okinawan in the feature version of the Broadway play "The Teahouse of the August Moon"

Spoofed his Oscar-winning turn as gangster Don Vito Corleone in the comedy "The Freshman"

Delivered generationally signature performance as the motorcycle-riding rebel in "The Wild One"

Resumed film acting and picked up eighth career Academy Award nomination as a British attorney in the anti-apartheid drama "A Dry White Season"; earned a salary in excess of $3 million which he reportedly donated to anti-apartheid charities

Appeared with a troupe of Dramatic Workshop students in summer stock in Sayville, New York

First screen test for a film titled "Rebel Without a Cause" (not the same as the James Dean film)

Acted in the then-controversial film "Candy"

Broadway acting debut in "I Remember Mama"

Reprised stage role of Stanley in film version of "A Streetcar Named Desire"; received first of four consecutive Best Actor Academy Award nominations; was only one of the four nominated principals (Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden) not to win an O

Directed by Charlie Chaplin in the misfire "The Countess From Hong Kong"

TV debut in the "I'm No Hero" segment of ABC's "Actors Studio"

Acted in "The Score" alongside Robert De Niro and Edward Norton

Sold Pennebaker Productions to Universal for a reported $1 million in exchange for a certain number of films to be made for Universal on a non-exclusive basis

Moved to Libertyville, Illinois

Collaborated with film director Donald Cammell in 1979 on a China Seas pirate story, later published into the novel Fan-Tan

Received second Academy Award playing the title role of "The Godfather"; co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Summary

Widely regarded as the greatest actor of his generation, Marlon Brando crafted several of the most iconic characterizations in the history of cinema, a legacy that remained undiminished, despite the heartbreaking trajectory his personal life took in later years. One of Hollywood's earliest "method" actors, Brando leapt from the New York stage to film notoriety with his electrifying portrayal of the brutish Stanley Kowalksi in director Elia Kazan's adaptation of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951). The roles that followed - in films such as "The Wild One" (1953) and "On the Waterfront" (1954) - were primeval displays of the human condition, never before seen quite that raw on film, that would go on to inspire future acting giants such as Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson. While still in demand with the studios, Brando's success at the box office gradually began to decline, even as stories of his eccentricities and difficult on-set behavior grew to mythical proportions. Just as it seemed the actor would be relegated to the status of Hollywood has-been, Brando enjoyed an unprecedented career rebirth with his Oscar-winning portrayal of Don Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" (1972). Then, in a one-two punch, he left audiences speechless with his animalistic and explicitly sexual performance in Bernardo Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris" (1973). Increasingly, Brando's professional output became sporadic, remarkable mainly for his high-priced cameo as Jor-El in "Superman" (1978) and a truly bizarre turn as the mad Col. Kurtz in Coppola's wartime opus, "Apocalypse Now" (1979). Although the later decades of his life were remembered more for a series of personal tragedies and the degradation of his once impressive physique, nothing could overshadow the scope and artistic brilliance of the body of work Brando had committed to film in a career that spanned more than 50 years.<p>The youngest of three children, Marlon Brando, Jr. was born on April 3, 1924 in Omaha, NE to parents Marlon, Sr., a pesticide salesman who had changed his last name from Brandeaux, and Dorothy, a local actress. While Brando was still young, the family moved to Illinois - initially, to the town of Evanston, and later to Libertyville. It was a tumultuous time for the Brando clan, marked by Dorothy's alcoholism and her brief separation from Marlon, Sr. A precocious child from a young age, Brando - a poor student who had already been held back a year - was expelled from Libertyville High School after one particularly egregious prank. Enraged, his father sent him to his alma mater, Shattuck Military Academy in Minnesota, in the hopes that it would straighten the boy out. By most accounts, it did not. Although he excelled in the academy's drama program, the young Brando continued to clash with authority, a tendency that led to a near expulsion before he ultimately decided to drop out altogether. When his attempt to join the Army failed to pan out - a trick knee from a football injury rendered him 4-F status - the 19-year-old Brando chose to follow his sisters to New York City in 1943. He began studying at the Dramatic Workshop at the New School as well as with the Actors Studio. It was during this time that Brando worked with legendary acting coach Stella Adler and became indoctrinated in the acting method of the Stanislavski System - an approach that utilized emotions and physical action rather than more traditional stagecraft techniques.<p>Brando flourished under Adler's tutelage and within the year made his Broadway debut in the sentimental hit "I Remember Mama" (1944). He later co-starred opposite Katharine Cornell in "Candida" (1946) and briefly toured with Tallulah Bankhead in "The Eagle Has Two Heads" the same year. His breakthrough came with his searing portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1947), directed by Elia Kazan for the stage. Although some - including co-star Jessica Tandy - took issue with the mumbled delivery of his dialogue, the role established a new order of acting intensity and made him a known quantity in the world of theatre. After making his television debut on an episode of "Actor's Studio" (CBS, 1948-1950) in 1949, Brando's first film was Fred Zinnemann's "The Men" (1950), in which he gave an against-type performance as an embittered, paraplegic war veteran struggling for dignity. Kazan's film version of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) followed, forever linking Brando to the image of the sexually voracious, brutish Kowalski, and making him one of the first "new generation" actors to achieve full-fledged stardom. His impassioned screaming of "Stella!" also became an iconic moment on film - remarkable for an actor just beginning his career. The role earned him the first of four consecutive Best Actor Academy Award nominations. He followed with a pair of impressive, individualistic performances as a Mexican revolutionary in "Viva Zapata!" (1952), and as Marc Anthony in Joseph L Mankiewicz's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" (1953).<p>Brando's status as a newly minted film star was confirmed with the release of "The Wild One" (1953), a motorcycle melodrama, which set the tone for future tales of youth rebellion and established the leather jacket as de rigueur for tough guys everywhere. With his simmering portrayal of anarchic gang leader Johnny Strabler, both the actor and character instantaneously became movie icons to a generation. Brando went on to earn a richly-deserved Best Actor Oscar for his multi-layered performance as a conflicted ex-prize fighter torn between his connection to a corrupt union official and pangs of guilt after witnessing a murder in Kazan's gritty masterpiece "On the Waterfront" (1954). For the second time in three years, Brando scored another iconic film moment with his backseat speech lamenting that he "could've been a contender " Enjoying unprecedented box-office and critical success, the young actor had, in less than five years, become one of the most influential performers in Hollywood. Never one to do the expected, he followed with a series of unconventional roles in his subsequent projects. He raged as the little conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte in the historical biopic "Desiree" (1954), tried his hand at musicals as a smarmy singing gambler in "Guys and Dolls" (1955), and played a Japanese interpreter in "The Teahouse of the August Moon" (1956). Other notable roles included a turn as a Korean War pilot in love with a Japanese entertainer in Joshua Logan's "Sayonara" (1957) - for which he received yet another Best Actor nomination - portrayed a sympathetic Nazi officer in "The Young Lions" (1958), and played an enigmatic drifter in the steamy melodrama "The Fugitive Kind" (1960).<p>By the dawn of the 1960s, Brando had gained a reputation as being not only exceptionally talented, but exceedingly difficult, especially when it came to working with directors. Initially slated as a project for director Stanley Kubrick, the revenge western "One-Eyed Jacks" (1961) became Brando's sole directorial effort after he and Kubrick parted ways because of creative differences. Tales of bad behavior abounded on the set of the remake of the nautical adventure "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962). In addition to claims that his antics caused the production to run over schedule and budget - as they had on "One Eyed Jacks" - Brando raised eyebrows with his insistence on giving his character of 1st Lt. Fletcher Christian a decidedly effete British accent. Working steadily, despite his eccentricities, he appeared as a U.S. diplomat in "The Ugly American" (1963), as a scheming gigolo in the comedy "Bedtime Story" (1964), and as a sheriff charged with capturing escaped convict Robert Redford in "The Chase" (1966). Having accumulated tremendous wealth by this time, Brando, who had fallen in love with the island nation of Tahiti while filming "Bounty," purchased the island of Tetiaroa in 1967. He would later open a hotel on the island with his third wife, Tarita Teriipia - his love interest in "Bounty" - which they would operate for nearly 25 years. Despite complex performances as a repressed gay military officer in John Huston's "Reflections in a Golden Eye" (1967) and as a 19th Century mercenary in "Burn!" (1969), Brando's films increasingly met with indifference from audiences. By the end of the decade the former box office titan had been reduced to a marginalized presence on the cinematic landscape.<p>It was not until Francis Ford Coppola cast Brando - in the face of fierce studio resistance - in the title role of "The Godfather" (1972) that he regained his once vaunted stature. His inventive and nuanced turn as the aging mafia boss Don Corleone set the tone for the entire film, received nearly universal critical praise, and earned him a second Oscar for Best Actor. Ever the eccentric, Brando became only the second actor to refuse to personally accept an Academy Award - George C. Scott had been the first - when he sent purported Native American Sacheen Littlefeather in his place, who then read from a prepared statement by the actor decrying America's ill-treatment of its native population. It was later revealed that Miss "Littlefeather" was in fact an actress named Maria Cruz. He followed with a riveting method performance as a self-destructive American in Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial "Last Tango in Paris" (1972). The sexually-charged film earned an X-rating at the time of its release due to its raw depictions of eroticism, and garnered Brando his seventh Best Actor nomination for his uncompromising portrayal. After a four-year hiatus, he next appeared in Arthur Penn's Western deconstruction "The Missouri Breaks" (1976), opposite Jack Nicholson. As Brando's follow-up to "Godfather" and "Last Tango," the unconventional film was perhaps a victim of unreasonably high expectation when it failed at the box-office. In his later years, the actor stated that many of the films that followed were merely jobs he accepted for the financial compensation. His brief cameo - for which he commanded the staggering sum of $3.7 million - as Jor-El, the father of "Superman" (1978) in Richard Donner's superhero spectacular bore the claim out.<p>Brando made a rare television appearance with an Emmy-winning cameo as American Nazi leader George Lincoln Rockwell in "Roots: The Next Generation" (ABC, 1979), before returning to theaters in one of the last truly memorable performances of his illustrious career. As Col. Kurtz, the dark heart of Coppola's hallucinogenic war drama "Apocalypse Now" (1979), Brando was simultaneously terrifying, riveting, and utterly insane. At the height of his professional eccentricity, the actor engaged in a legendary game of cat-and-mouse with his frantic director when he arrived weeks late for filming, grossly overweight, and having personally rewritten his scenes. In spite of this, Brando went on to deliver one of the most compelling and avant-garde performances of his career. Although it met with mixed reviews upon initial release, over the passage of time the film would be regarded as one of the most important films about the Vietnam War ever made. Brando went on to team with fellow Oscar snubber George C. Scott for the turgid corporate thriller "The Formula" (1980), before taking a break from film for several years. Upon his return, Brando earned a well-deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his engaging performance as a crusty South African civil rights lawyer in Euzhan Palcy's "A Dry White Season" (1989).<p>The next decade began with tragedy for Brando and his family. In May of 1990 after an alcohol-fueled altercation, his eldest son, Christian, shot and killed Dag Drollet, the Tahitian boyfriend of his half-sister, Cheyenne. Following a trial that saw a tearful Brando admitting to having failed as a father, Christian pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and spent the next five years in a California state prison. Juxtaposed against the calamity of his personal life, Brando impressed critics and audiences with his comic send-up of Don Corleone in the lightweight romp "The Freshman" (1990) alongside a youthful Matthew Broderick. He kept a low-profile for much of the duration of his son's incarceration, but reappeared as a complacent psychiatrist in the romantic comedy "Don Juan DeMarco" (1995), opposite Faye Dunaway and Johnny Depp; with the latter playing a delusional young man who claims to be the legendary lover. With Christian's release from prison only a year away, reverberations from the horrific events of the past continued when Cheyenne, still despondent over the death of Drollet and diagnosed with schizophrenia, hung herself at her mother's home in Tahiti in 1995. Still reeling from his daughter's suicide, Brando's experience on the set of "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (1996) was, understandably, not a happy one. Compounding the problems were the reprehensible behavior of co-star Val Kilmer, last minute changes in the cast and crew, and constant delays due to a script that was being rewritten in the midst of filming. Not surprisingly, the completed film was met with disastrous reviews, bombed at the box-office, and earned the revered thespian a "Razzie" Award for Worst Supporting Actor.<p>Brando's last original screen outing was in the routine heist thriller "The Score" (2001), as a past-his-prime "fence" opposite acting heavyweights of subsequent generations Robert De Niro and Edward Norton. Having been morbidly obese since the 1990s, Brando's health continued to deteriorate due to a host of infirmities, including diabetes, liver disease, and congestive heart failure. On July 1, 2004 he died in Los Angeles from respiratory failure brought on by pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 80. However, the world would be given one last performance by the actor when footage shot during Richard Donner's "Superman" films - some never before seen - was utilized for an appearance of Brando as Jor-El in director Bryan Singer's relaunch "Superman Returns" (2006). Another project which Brando had been collaborating on up until a week before his death, "Citizen Brando" - originally titled "Brando and Brando" - was completed in 2006 as a homage to the late actor.

One of the founders of the Omaha Community Playhouse; died of effects of alcoholism c. 1954

Maria Ruiz

Companion

Born c. 1958; had three children with his long-time housekeeper

Education

Name

Actors Studio

Libertyville High School

Shattuck Military Academy

The New School

American Theatre Wing Professional School

Notes

"Brando's Terry Malloy is a shatteringly poignant portrait of an amoral, confused, illiterate citizen of the lower depths who is goaded into decency by love, hate and murder. His groping for words, use of the vernacular, care of his beloved pigeons, pugilist's walk and gestures and his discoveries of love and the immensity of the crimes around him are highlights of a beautiful and moving portrayal." - A. H. Weiler's review of "On the Waterfront" in the The New York Times, July 30, 1954

"He's the most keenly aware, the most empathetical human being alive - he just knows. If you have a scar, physical or mental, he goes right to it. He doesn't want to, but he doesn't avoid it - he cannot be cheated or fooled. If you left the room he could be you." - Stella Adler quoted in Richard Schickel's Brando: A Life in Our Times (1991)

"We may treasure, as he does not, the moments he gave us, at the same time speculating about the ones he didn't give us, out of spite or goofiness or whatever has moved him to not move us. Looking at him now, one can't help recalling the illimitable promise of his youth and perhaps of our own, and the inevitable confusions and compromises life imposes on us, the inevitable follies we impose on ourselves. Brando has kept faith with incoherence. Whatever he has done and not done, no actor in his life and his work has more consistently kept us in touch with the erratic, that which is unpredicatable and dangerous in ourselves and in the world." - Richard Schickel in Brando: A Life in Our Times (1991)

"Brando's a giant on every level. When he acts, it's as if he's landed on another planet. He's got it all. That's why he's endured. When I first saw 'On The Waterfront' I couldn't move. I couldn't leave the theatre. I'd never seen the like of it. I couldn't believe it." - Al Pacino, Brando's co-star from "The Godfather in Empire magazine, August 2004

"He's simply the best, and if he wants to call acting merely a craft, then he's the greatest craftsman who ever lived." - Dennis Hopper quoted in Empire magazine, August 2004

In 1968, Brando bought Tetaroa, an atoll of 13 islands, thirty miles north of Tahiti; he attempted to open hotel there, but his plans were ruined by flooding and financial strains.

In 1990, Brando's son Christian was arrested for fatally shooting daughter Cheyenne's boyfriend Dag Drollet; Christian pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and use of a gun. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison; the trial documented on Court TV.